Dragon on fire

Date Published: 09-Jun-2009

GREEN Dragon skipper Ian Walker admitted that his team were leaving Galway with “heavy hearts” after what they described as the best stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-9 in a brisk northerly wind on Saturday afternoon.

In winds which were far more “normal” for the bay than the balmy, calm, sundrenched conditions which the sailors enjoyed for most of the two week stopover, the Irish boat was soon blasting downwind once the starting gun fired off Mutton Island.

A huge flotilla of boats was on hand to watch the fleet depart from Salthill for leg eight of the gruelling round the world race, which will bring them to Gothenburg, Sweden, before they finish in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the end of this month.

To the delight of the ‘home’ spectators, the Dragon built up a comfortable early lead, although overall leaders Ericsson 4, led by Torben Grael, edged ahead as the competing boats sped towards the Aran Islands and south towards the Cliffs of Moher.

Walker’s crew headed further offshore to take the lead again by midnight on Saturday, rounding the Fastnet Rock in front to ensure that the Green Dragon, fittingly, led the way as the boats left Irish waters – almost…